July 18, 1996 is the day that Shaquille O’Neal announced he is leaving the Magic to play for the Lakers. It was also the day that my perception of the NBA changed instantly. I idolized Shaq and Penny and thought they would play together forever. I was too young to understand the back story of his relationship with Orlando, but I knew that I was extremely disappointed and upset.

Why did he leave? Weren’t him and Penny best friends? Why couldn't he stick with his original team and keep trying to win like Patrick Ewing?

I rooted against him and the Lakers. I was happy to see his playoff dreams end by Malone’s Jazz and Duncan’s Spurs; teams with stars who had stayed on their original teams. In the 2000 playoffs, Shaq’s Lakers looked destined to fall once again in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. The Trailblazers had a 15-point lead entering the fourth quarter and looked destined for a title. That lead slowly evaporated, then this happened.

The most famous alley-oop in NBA history sealed the victory, and I had to see the replay over… and over… and over. (This was not only the catalyst for the Lakers three-peat, but also the turning point when the Trailblazers became the Jailblazers.)

By 2004, when Shaq left for Miami, I had grown to respect what he accomplished in L.A. I not only understood why he left the Lakers, but also now understood why he left Orlando. The reasons for both were exhaustive; plenty of personnel issues on both teams (Brian Hill and Penny, Phil Jackson and Kobe), The Orlando Sentinel survey stated that an over 90% of residents did not believe Shaq was worth $115M. We also know Shaq was ready to take the rap game by storm, and what better place than California in the mid 90s? Who could blame him? He was ready to drop the next “All Eyez on Me” and ready to win some championships. These reasons, and many more, led him to switch teams twice during his peak years. Breaking backboards for the Magic just wasn’t cutting it.

This may not fit the romanticized narrative of staying with the team that drafted him, but not every NBA player is fortunate enough to be placed in the right situation at the right time. Shaq alluded to this when said that he and Kobe would have won “five or six titles” had they stayed together past 2004.

In professional team sports, just as in life, you cannot control everything that affects your life, but you have the ability to make decisions that can improve the aspects that affect your life- whatever those decisions may be.

In the vacuum of the NBA, free agency and trades allows players and teams to make these necessary changes when needed. Much of what we discuss when we talk about legacy and place in NBA history has unfortunately (and unnecessarily) hinged on this exact point.

When the 2006-07 Cavaliers overachieved (That Pistons team was stronger, let’s be honest) and made it to NBA Finals, the LeBron-Jordan comparisons and expectations grew and each subsequent season became title-or-bust. After three straight premature playoff losses, LeBron left Cleveland, as many predicted. Initially, I was stunned by The Decision because I was caught up in the Jordan narrative myself. I thought it was the “easy way out”. Soon after the start of the Miami era though, but after this — (sidenote: if we can thank the Pep Rally for anything, can we admit that “Pharoae Monch — Simon Says” is one of the best entrance songs?) I realized that the Jordan narrative was not a fair way to judge LeBron or any other future star. Although Ohio was Lebron’s home, it made perfect sense why he left Cleveland in 2010.

I thought about why players like Magic, Bird, Jordan and Duncan stay on one team for their entire careers and “build legacies”. I also thought about why some players like Shaq, LeBron, Kareem, and Garnett leave their original teams and build “legacies” on multiple teams.

I spoke about Shaq and LeBron already, but Kareem’s circumstances are very intriguing. Despite winning one title and three MVP awards with the Bucks, they were no longer a contender in 1975. It is also well-known that Kareem never felt that Milwaukee fit his cultural needs. He grew up in New York and went to UCLA, so the Lakers were a natural fit culturally and competitively. I was actually in Milwaukee one weekend last summer. I asked the hotel receptionist what I can do for fun and her response was “eat and drink, that’s about it”. Maybe Kareem had the same receptionist when he visited Milwaukee for the first time?

Kevin Garnett’s 12 seasons in Minnesota started with much promise. Eight straight playoff appearances and his 2004 MVP season were exciting to watch, but the team lost five first-round draft picks during Kevin Garnett’s prime due to the Joe Smith salary cap scandal, which crippled the team’s ability to truly develop. Garnett finally won his championship with the 2008 Celtics. In 2010, after the Celtics beat LeBron in his last game (to date) as a Cavalier, Garnett told LeBron that if he could do his situation over in joining the Celtics with Pierce and Allen, he said he would have done it sooner.

Each of these examples have similar themes. Title contention, salary, personnel relations, personal ambitions, culture, and market size are all reasons why stars leave teams. Instead of Shaq, LeBron, Kareem, and Garnett staying in their less-than-ideal situations, they took charge of their careers and did what was best for them at that time.

Let’s compare these stars to the “loyal” stars I mentioned earlier who built legacies with one team. Magic Johnson was drafted by the big market L.A. Lakers, where his rookie season ended in an NBA title, led by himself and that season’s MVP; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Larry Bird joined a team that he turned around and brought to relevance in his first season. Bird’s second season though, they drafted Kevin McHale and traded for Robert Parrish. This solid core won three titles and alternated jabs each year for the rest of the ‘80s with the Lakers and Pistons.

Michael Jordan, drafted by a large market team, had his numerous playoff exits in the ‘80s, but started winning championships as he entered his prime. Jordan and Scottie Pippen became better each season and Phil Jackson’s coaching brought them over the hump to dominate the ‘90s. One important factor to note is Jordan’s relationship with Pippen. After the Bulls lost Game 7 of the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, Pippen had his famous migraine game where he left the game early. Jordan called Pippen “soft” after the game. This sounds similar to the type of riffs that Shaq may have dealt with Penny and Kobe, but fortunately for Jordan, those comments never snowballed, as the Bulls went won to win their six titles.

Duncan was drafted by a San Antonio team that missed the playoffs in 1997 only because David Robinson was injured during the season. The Spurs made the playoffs the seven seasons before Robinson’s injury (finishing as #1 and #2 seeds in 1995 and 1996 respectively), so Duncan was joining a legitimate contender (and not the Boston Celtics who were admittedly tanking to get Duncan).

Remember Duncan’s “Decision” to stay with San Antonio in 2000? He heavily considered joining the Orlando Magic to play with Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. The decision was close, but Duncan ultimately stayed with San Antonio because he was already a champion with them and had a strong relationship with the team.

The decisions that players make expand beyond their career decisions. Some of the NBA’s most revered stars entered favorable situations earlier in their careers. Other revered stars were not that fortunate though.

Bill Simmons’s article on Carmelo Anthony this week focuses on Melo’s decision to stay with New York. Re-signing with the Knicks over the Bulls may hurt his chances to win a title and become as great as he could be. Melo says he believes in Phil Jackson, but the 5-year $122 million contract he just signed is much more than Chicago could offer. It may be easy to call Melo selfish for taking more money when he is already a multi-millionare, but that may not be a fair statement. He never wrote a LeBron-type letter explaining his complete rationale for staying with New York (There is probably more to it than Phil Jackson and a higher salary), so we can only speculate.

What if Kevin Garnett was drafted by the Spurs in 1997 instead of Duncan? What if Tracy McGrady (and not Kobe) had played alongside Shaq or Duncan instead of Pat Garrity in the early 2000s ? What if Michael Olowakandi was drafted by Vancouver? (try writing that last sentence with a straight face!) We will never be able to determine all the what-if scenarios if certain players were placed in different scenarios, but it helps when we think about the potential that some stars had and could have fulfilled in a different situation.

LeBron’s SI letter explaining why he will re-join the Cleveland has won many fans (nationally, not just in Cleveland) back over. Hearing his open thoughts and rationales has helped people relate to him more than they could in 2010. I believe that many NBA stars who switch teams go through similar honest questions about their doubts and tradeoff they are willing to make, just as LeBron showed us in his letter. Unfortunately, not all of them have been this open, or had the opportunity to be this open. They do not get the benefit of the doubt that they deserve.

We should never discredit legends like Jordan, Duncan, Magic, and Bird that made the most of their great team situations. In that same breath, we should not discredit stars who leave their less favorable team situations for those that are better fits, both professionally and personally. I just hope that more stars can take Kevin Garnett’s advice to heart and take control of their careers before they are past their primes and it’s too late.